


i'll be around on sunday

by janteu



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Actor Baekhyun, Character Study, M/M, director kyungsoo, extremely self-indulgent film au, past relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:27:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23932297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janteu/pseuds/janteu
Summary: Critically acclaimed director Do Kyungsoo doesn't expect hotshot actor Byun Baekhyun to fit the main character for his next film like a second skin.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Do Kyungsoo | D.O
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	i'll be around on sunday

**Author's Note:**

> this is part of a much larger au that i haven't been able to properly put together. for now, enjoy this little excerpt. title from old friend by mitski.

“Look, when Jongdae told me that you wanted me to come audition for this film, I laughed in his face.” Kyungsoo blinks up at Baekhyun, surprised. “I honestly thought it was another one of his ploys for us to get along again.”

The air between them is tense. Baekhyun is leaning back, limbs resting wide and lazy and open, but his face tightens in a way that Kyungsoo thinks must be nervousness. He looks far more guarded than he had years ago, when they were trainees. Kyungsoo examines the pull of his face and the tired lines around his eyes and concludes that fame has changed both of them. Perhaps irreversibly.

“Hm,” says Kyungsoo, swirling the coffee in his mug, “so he did that to you, too.”

Baekhyun scoffs. “Of course. Jongdae’s a nosy, manipulative bastard.”

“And you aren’t?”

Baekhyun stares at him for a long moment, unreadable. “I call bullshit on manipulative. Though I am, in fact, nosy and annoying. A few of my most charming traits.” 

Kyungsoo lets out a snort despite himself. “Only a manipulative person would say they aren’t manipulative.”

“Then what about you, Kyungsoo? Do you consider yourself a manipulative person?”

Pausing, Kyungsoo stirs sugar into his coffee, wondering why he agreed to meet up with Baekhyun in the first place.

“Controlling, perhaps. I couldn’t say.”

Baekhyun has ordered an obscene-looking sweet drink with toppings Kyungsoo can’t even identify. He holds Kyungsoo’s eyes as he leans down to take a sip, fingers curled gently around the sides. 

“A wise answer. Is psychoanalysis a common activity during your coffee dates? Or does playing antagonistic verbal tennis get you going?” Baekhyun asks, rapid fire, like he isn’t the one throwing barbs more quickly than Kyungsoo can defend them. Kyungsoo narrows his eyes at him. He can almost pretend nothing has changed.

“Maybe you’d like to analyze why you think this is a date, Baekhyun.” 

In another life, Kyungsoo would say he knew Baekhyun better than anyone. In this life, there exists merely a coffee shop and two ghosts having a conversation as fleeting as wind on water. He feels woefully out of his depth. 

“Isn’t it? We’re sitting here, drinking coffee, and you’re doing that thing where you make slightly apathetic comments in an awkwardly flirtatious way. I would say that this is very much a date.” Baekhyun looks incredibly smug. It’s infuriating.

“Your understanding of flirting tells me a lot about you,” Kyungsoo throws back, though it doesn’t really tell him much more than he knew already. “And this isn’t a date, to clarify.”

The stifling heaviness in the room changes weight every time either one of them speaks. Right now, it’s flattened itself out, covering everything in a dense fog. Baekhyun’s expression is unreadable. Kyungsoo has never been fond of the unknown.

He sips his coffee. It’s still too bitter, but he knows he’s put at least two spoons of sugar. Baekhyun always liked it with more sugar than coffee. Kyungsoo remembers. He sets it down, too aware of how loud he swallows. 

“It’s what I’m good at. Flirting, I mean.” He pauses. Kyungsoo waits for another remark, maybe something scathing about how they used to do this before, but those outings were definitely more like dates. He’d rather not think about that, let alone talk about it. Instead, Baekhyun taps his fingers on the edge of his cup like he might tap on a microphone, and sighs. “But being good at something doesn’t always mean anything at all.”

Kyungsoo blinks, wondering how to process that. He feels a bit like he’s underwater. 

If your heart’s not in it, what’s the point?

He rests his hands on his knees, leans forward, and hopes that he isn’t making a mistake. That’s what this business is all about, isn’t it? Leaps of faith. Art stops for no one, and all that.

“Jihyun is telling me I should cast you as Eunhi.”

A moment passes. Kyungsoo focuses on the coffee shop, aiming for nonchalant but probably ending up somewhere around staggeringly awkward.

“Is she?”

Kyungsoo breathes. Curses himself for thinking that this would be as easy as before. Of course it wouldn’t be. They’re not the same people that they were.

“She thinks that you’d better fit the character,” Kyungsoo reasons, chancing a glance at Baekhyun’s face. He’s licking whipped cream off his lower lip. 

“I see,” says Baekhyun slowly, smiling, clearly confused.

“I think this is the first time you’ve responded to anything I’ve said with less than three words,” Kyungsoo mutters, frustrated. 

Baekhyun grins at that, his posture relaxing minutely, and Kyungsoo can’t find it in himself to be more flustered than pleased. He seems like he gets it now, which is good, because Kyungsoo doesn’t quite feel up to explaining how he accidentally wrote Baekhyun into his film as the female protagonist. Jihyun is right; the role is tailored for him almost exactly. Kyungsoo hates it.

“You didn’t exactly ask me anything,” says Baekhyun, leaning forward again. “Now, then, director, would you like to try that again?”

Kyungsoo frowns to hide the grin that itches at the corners of his mouth. Baekhyun sees right through him.

“Why don’t you try out for Eunhi’s part, hotshot? For real, this time. Then we’ll see. I might even cast you.”

“I’ll consider it,” Baekhyun says with a wink.

“You are very, very bad for me, Byun Baekhyun.”

Kyungsoo looks down from Baekhyun’s square smile and pours more sugar into his coffee. He coughs a little as it goes down. Too sweet.

“I try my best.”


End file.
